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I’ve found myself trapped on a Windows Vista environment for the next two weeks. The reason is that I recently bought a new PC and while installing OpenSUSE I realized the next mayor version is due in less then a month so I decided to stick with the then installed Vista Ultimate 64bit to avoid the hassle of upgrading the distro. That would also give me a opportunity to get some insight on the capability of the hardware using the operating system the accompanying software was written for.

Read the story after the jump..

And, I had to continue working. That was mostly not a problem since all the tools I use in my work have Windows ports or at least capable counterparts. I installed the server software I need to a VirtualBox that I must say, works perfectly.

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Going some distance from my duties, the media player Songbird caught my attention, but still no match for Amarok I grew to like so much. VLC was there to help me setup my regular webcam server. Putty for a alternative to my preferred terminal ssh and TortoiseSVN for terminal svn. I still use NoMachine‘s remote desktop although Vista is not exactly happy with it. uTorrent is one of the tools I wish were on KDE / Linux. Same goes for Google Chrome. We will see who gets there first.

A new tool I discovered while browsing is something I will definitely use when I am back on Linux in about two weeks. I am talking about Workrave, the program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury. One of the things that is becoming a increasing problem in my field.

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Tho, 2 weeks into the experience my productivity is crippled. I found myself using putty to access my VirtualBox – CentOS installation’s bash for common everyday tasks. My Wacom tablet misbehaves in Gimp and sometimes Inkscape. I have to use strange file syncing tehniques to code on the server ( with encoding issues all around ) since I mostly work with *nix systems, I need that not to be a problem. And another bug is the AltGr on my keyboard.. a lot of layouts use that key to access special keys like [ ] { } ‘ ; l etc.. But it seems some apps steals Alt for their shortcuts and that cripples AltGr keys.. anyone know how to fix this ?

Ok, i confess. There are things I like here alot. Like the tablet input system and handwriting recognition, voice recognition software. Having the drivers from the manufactoreres and not having to recompile them every kernel upgrade.

But the i can not live without my terminal with the gnu toolset I love so much. Having to work on the same file system as the server is also something I now know I can not do without.

So.. Microsoft, please stop forcing Windows on everyone. Stick with next-door “PC Gurus” and leave grandma her Ubuntu and mom and dad their Mac’s.

PS: I did not mention games because I do not play them as much that it is a burden to reboot the pc.

PPS: I miss Klipper